Penance usage

Classes Priest
1

Hi, do you use penance on your injured target or the enemy you are dpsing usually?

1 Like
2

I believe it’s best to use penance offensively in most cases. If your target requires more healing I believe you shadowmend to catch up and continue dpsing via penance and smite and solace.

2 Likes
3

Penance is best used offensively but there are some times i feel healing with Penance in an emergency situation makes more sense if someone might die in a global and I don’t have the time to ramp up.

Also Penance is a good spot heal on the move in between trash.

1 Like
4

Okay, it uses less mana than shadowmend right? So if someone is really low on health for whatever reason it would be better to penance than smend?

the reason i was confused is because on the tool tip it does way more healing than damage

5

Penance is the only instant cast heal the Disc Priest has so if you are on the move you and you can’t get an atonement off then its a good reason to use Penance as a heal but always us Penance as an offensive heal first and a individual heal second.

1 Like
6

On one target, yes. If you have multiple injured targets with atonement, that offensive Penance does more.

If a single target is dying, you’re correct that Penance will cost less mana. But Shadowmend will heal more. Usually in that situation healing more will gain priority over being mana-efficient. The exceptions being 1) when you can’t stand still to cast, 2) if the person would die in the time it takes to finish the cast, and 3) if you have a Power of the Dark Side proc.

1 Like
7

Okay that makes a lot of sense, thanks all.

8

Defensive Penance will always heal more. Penance is 375% sp, wheras Shadowmend is 325%.

Generally defensive penance isn’t used for three reasons:

  1. It generally isn’t needed, and can provide extra damage.
  2. When more people are injured, offensive penance will heal comparatively to a defensive penance split among a group. (at 5 targets, offensive is 300% split).
  3. It spreads purge the wicked - which is insane value for mana and globals.

But strictly speaking healing numbers, defensive penance will always beat an offensive penance in 5-mans. In any group of 6 players +, offensive will out-do a defensive. It’s OK to use defensive penance if you don’t meet the conditions above.

We can have a bit of a debate about value with contrition, too… But Contrition’s kind of a not-so-great talent anyway.

Edit:
That said if I wanted to focus on D.Penance, my theoretical build would be something like:

Castigation|Feather|Solace/Bender|Shining Force|Contrition|Halo/Divine Star|Lenience

Leggo: Penitent or Twins
Potency Conduits: Shining Radiance + Swift Penitence

Playstyle:

  1. Defensive Penance off CD.
  2. Divine Star/Halo off CD (so long as you’re not gonna hit extra stuff)
  3. Mind Sear as MUCH AS POSSIBLE at 3+ targets.
  4. Mind Blast/Mind Sear dangerous mobs before their burst.
  5. DoT up to 3 targets, but don’t worry too much about keeping em rolling, just re-apply when you have the globals to.
  6. Smite as filler.
  7. Shadowmend as needed between penances.

Basically, you’re sacrificing a decent chunk of damage by dropping Schism/Twist and Sins. So to make up for it you make sure to get more mind sear time in dungeon. Your Single target will lack, so I’d personally prefer taking Solace to have consistent damage in bosses.

Realistically, it’s a playstyle that COULD work, but it seems like it’s really just more work for the same result at best.

1 Like
9

Penance works great both ways. Offensively it’s a solid aoe heal, defensively it’s a cheap, instant, potent single target heal.

It exists as an adaptable ability, use it as it is needed, where it is needed. Only wish defensive penance applied atonement.

3 Likes
10

Defensive penance is also great when you’re OOM. I’ve had fights go wrong where we lose a lot of dps and heals. Barely eek out a victory surviving on defensive penances with no mana.

1 Like
11

thanks for the detailed reply! i am going to be focusing on pvping the most, I already got the Crystalline legendary, I’m guessing offensive penance is better in pvp as well? (arenas/bgs)

12

I would say the easiest way to decide what type of penance to use is:

  1. Are you group healing via atonement or just trying to damage? Then use Penance offensively.
  2. Are you trying to heal a single target because they need healing (especially if you are on the move)? Then use Penance defensively.
1 Like
13

I haven’t done enough PvP this expansion (or taken any of the PvP I HAVE done seriously enough) to comment anything definite.

But from what I gathered from my play and from what I’ve seen top arena players doing, yeah you’re mostly going to use it offensively. Especially because ultimate radiance + Shining Radiance conduit is a MASSIVE instant group heal that can cheese in BGs, and in Arena you’ll likely be taking Trinity as well - which makes the atonement transfer better.

1 Like
14

Thanks again, yeah i’ll be running trinity!

15

I’ve been mixing it up between trinity and radiance depending on enemy team comp. In twos I run trinity vs healer/dps comp and radiance vs double dps.

Though I think at higher skill/vers levels trinity is taken more often than radiance.

1 Like
16

Offensive mostly except that it can remove grevious so it helps with that. I also have been running with the machine gun penance leggo right now. So when it gets harder to handle I target him

1 Like
17

I try to avoid blanket rules but generally, i use DefP on the move or if the person might die in the time it takes me to cast Smend.

Everything going well, then its always offensive

Running shadowflame leggo atm for funsies. Im enjoying it

1 Like
18

I can’t say I’m too familiar with that one. Is the healing you get worth it?

19

Its not a healing one. Its a damage one. So as a rule i run ToF and Mindbender. That leggo makes mind bender cleaves 5 targets every time you mind blast and swd. With power infusion you can get off 2 mind blasts and 1 swd. Can do some good damage while your healing. especially if your having to Smend spam, it can do the dps for you.

20

1 Penance to do damage and heal 2 people with Atonement is more than 1 penance heal.

I keep this in mind and it’s easy for me to quickly think of the value.